Chapter Twenty-Three
Kath
The Rebel Wayfarers MC clubhouse was louder and warmer than Kath had expected.
Voices rumbled around her—deep, serious conversations mixed with the occasional burst of relieved laughter.
The place smelled like leather, coffee, and faintly of gun oil.
She sat tucked against Chase’s side on a worn leather couch, one of his arms wrapped firmly around her shoulders like he was afraid she might disappear if he let go.
She didn’t mind.
Her head still throbbed, her wrists burned where the zip ties had cut in, and every time she closed her eyes, she saw those two men stepping into her living room. But Chase’s steady warmth kept the worst of the panic at bay.
Mason approached them again, this time with what looked like her boots.
Up close, the man was even more intimidating. He carried authority like a second skin. Kath instinctively straightened, trying not to look as small and shaken as she felt.
Mason crouched in front of them so he was eye level with her as he placed the boots on the floor. His voice was surprisingly gentle.
“Kathleen,” he said. “Bear brought your boots back. I want you to know that you’re safe here. No one will touch you. We’ve got people watching your house and sitting with your sister right now. She’s fine—shaken but safe.”
Relief washed through her so strongly her eyes stung. “Thank you,” she whispered. “For...everything.”
Mason studied her for a long moment, then glanced at Chase. Something passed between father and son—a silent conversation she wasn’t part of yet.
“You’re important to my son,” Mason said, returning his gaze to her. “That makes you important to this club. Rest. Eat. Let Doc check on that head again if the pain gets worse. We’ll talk more when you’re ready.”
He stood and walked away, already pulled into another conversation. Kath let out a shaky breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.
“He’s...intense,” she murmured.
Chase huffed a quiet laugh and pressed a kiss to her temple. “That’s one word for it. He’s also the reason we found you so fast. Myron tracked the phone pings from the area around your house. They moved like hell once they had a location.”
Kath turned her face into his neck, breathing him in. “I was so scared. I thought...I thought they were going to—”
“I know,” Chase whispered, holding her tighter. “I was terrified too. When I got to your house and saw your bike but you weren’t there...it felt like my mom all over again. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think about anything except getting to you.”
She pulled back just enough to look at him. His eyes were raw, exhausted, but full of something so steady and deep it made her chest ache.
“I love you,” she said softly. “Even when I was panicking and pushing you away the other night...I still loved you. I’m sorry I got weird. I just...I’ve never had someone look at me the way you do. It scared me.”
Chase cupped her face with both hands, thumbs brushing gently over her cheeks.
“I love you too,” he said, voice rough. “And I’m sorry I pulled back.
I thought I was protecting you by staying away.
Turns out I was just making us both miserable.
” He leaned in and kissed her—slow, tender, full of relief and promise.
“No more running. No more hiding. We do this together from now on.”
Kath nodded, tears slipping down her cheeks. She didn’t bother wiping them away.
For the first time in years, she let herself believe that maybe, just maybe, she could have something good without waiting for it to fall apart.
She leaned into Chase’s chest, listening to his heartbeat, feeling the steady rise and fall of his breathing. Around them, the clubhouse continued its controlled chaos of brothers reporting in, coffee being passed around, and someone barking orders about securing the trailer house scene.
But right here, in this small pocket of quiet, she felt safe.
She felt home.
And as Chase’s arms tightened around her, she closed her eyes and let herself believe it could last.